Bringing it onto the Stage

Location: Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts

April 25, 2014

Washington College music students showcase their talents in a series of free concerts, April 21-29.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College Music Department will end its spring 2014 semester with a string of student performances that are free and open to the public. All events are in Hotchkiss Recital Hall, in the Gibson Center for the Arts on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

On Monday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. the Department will feature its most talented musicians in a Student Honors Recital. Including both chamber and solo works, this show includes vocalists, pianists, and string and wind players. After the performance, the audience is invited to stay for complimentary coffee and dessert.

The following evening, Tuesday, April 22, again at 7:30, a variety of chamber groups will perform, along with the Washington College Symphonic Band. The Saxophone Quartet, directed by faculty member Phyllis Crossen-Richardson, will perform “Peacherine Rag,” “Take the A Train,” “Stardust,” and “Shenandoah.” The Woodwind and Brass Ensembles, directed by professor Jon McCollum, will play selections from “Meet the Brass” from the Carnival of Animals by Camile Saint-Saens (1835-1921), arranged by Karl Kramer, and selections from Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet (1838-1875), arranged by Bill Hocombe and Bill Hocombe, Jr.

On Friday, April 25, at 8:00 p.m. the Washington College Chamber Singers will present “Rock On!”, a 45-minute jam featuring the music of Imagine Dragons, Elton John, Kansas, Jacques Offenbach, Cyndi Lauper, and more, accompanied by WC’s Director of Choirs, Douglas Brandt Byerly.

And on Tuesday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m., the College’s Steel Band (Steel Revolution) and the Washington College Jazz Ensemble perform. Steel Revolution, directed by professor John Leupold, will play selections of traditional Trinidadian music, Reggae, Popular songs, and Latin music. The Jazz Ensemble, directed by Music Department chair Kenneth Schweitzer, will feature big-band swing favorites, as well as a selection of Latin, Pop, and Funk charts.

The Department closes out the season Thursday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Decker Theatre with a ticketed event: a powerful rendition of Karl Jenkins’s Requiem, performed by the WC Chorus and String Orchestra and featuring professor McCollum on the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese end-blown flute. Admission will be $10; $5 for students or persons age 65 and older; free for WC students with valid ID and youth 18 and under.